Bryan Jolly, of Vero Beach, shares his passion for his work as an automotive detailer, in which he relies mostly by feel. He judges a car's condition by touch or sounds, because Jolly is blind.

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Bryan Jolly, of Vero Beach, laughs as he cleans the interior of Pastor James Womack's car. "I have an amazing life," said Jolly, who is blind. "I walk around with a smile on my face, because I realize what this life is all about. And it's not about me at all. It's about making the Lord happy and that's about making other people happy and doing what he says." Jolly lost his vision nearly three and a half years ago when he was involved with drugs and alcohol. "I was sitting at home one night, realized I'm living in hell and really I didn't know heaven, and I grabbed a gun and shot myself right through the middle of my brain. The bullet went in my left temple."

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Bryan Jolly, of Vero Beach, runs his fingers along the edge of James Womack's Buick LaSabre while detailing the car.Jollyuses only his sense of touch to clean cars.

Bryan Jolly is a young man with an infectious smile, an upbeat attitude and a passion for his work as an automotive detailer.

As he runs a hand along the door of a client's car, his fingers linger over a gummy residue where plastic edge guards used to be. Jolly's grin drops away for a brief moment, knowing he'll have to use lacquer thinner to remove the offending grime.

Jolly is blind.

The 31-year-old lost vision in his right eye as a child after being shot with a BB gun. Jolly, who describes himself as an angry young man, found work detailing cars and in construction and lived in 14 states in 18 years, he said, before settling in Vero Beach, where his mother lives.

Here, he lost the rest of his eyesight.

Three and half years ago, Jolly was despondent after a night of drinking and cocaine use, he said. He picked up a loaded handgun, pressed it against his left temple and pulled the trigger.

Jolly's life was saved; a flight to Holmes Regional Medical Center started a four-and-a-half month journey toward recovery, filled with surgeries and rehabilitation. And one of his doctor's also gave Jolly's life a sense of purpose.

Jolly said he came to accept Jesus after one of his doctors repeatedly talked to him about his faith and told Jolly that he believed God had saved Jolly, as he initially wasn't expected to live through that night.

As he accepted Christianity, Jolly said he also came to accept his total blindness.

"I said to myself, 'it must have been meant to be,'" Jolly said.

In addition to detailing cars, Jolly is studying to become a minister and a counselor. He also has found love — his wife, Hope, whom he calls a beautiful woman though he will likely never see her face.

The couple works together on the cars. Hope helps Jolly wash the cars and locate his supplies.

Jolly works mostly by feel, judging a car's condition by touch or sounds. He scratches his cleaning supplies in different spots or peels the labels a certain way so he knows which ones to use on each part.

Explaining how he works, Jolly leans over and touches the hood of a Buick LeSabre that belongs to Pastor James Womack, whom he knows through their service work. Jolly is listening for a particular squeak.

"See how that is shiny like that?" Jolly said. "That's from the clay bar. It looks shiny, but it's not properly done yet. It won't stay that way without wax."

As he slides into the car's leather seats and runs his fingertips around the interior he quickly dismisses Hope's assessment of the car's condition. "She said this is dirty," Jolly said. "This isn't dirty at all. This will be easy."

"And they say I'm the blind one," Jolly added, as Hope rolled her eyes and smiled.

He finds clients mostly through his church, but he is working with a partner to open a detailing shop. Jolly admits he knows people are skeptical about a blind man detailing their cars but his work is meticulous.

"Even when I could see I still went through the same steps," Jolly said. "I just go step by step around the car and do everything. It's a program and I stay organized. I'm a very organized man."

Womack, the pastor of New Covenant Community Church in Vero Beach, said he too was skeptical of Jolly's abilities as a detailer. But he had no complaints as Jolly finished the multi-hour detailing job on the LeSabre.